Friday, July 18, 2014

NEW BOOK!!!!

OMG
OMG OMG! The book is in!!! And so pleased with how it turned out. Stop
by booth #5555 in Hall H at comic con to get yours. Hardcovers are a con
exclusive!! #graphicLA #digitalpleinair #book #designstudiopress
#comiccon #robhruppel #robhruppelart

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

pattern

i’ve been rethinking ideas about composition since seeing Dan Coles
work. he has a refreshing point of view. he searches for patterns like
no other. in a way he breaks a lot of the conventional “rules” of image
making but he does it SO well that it makes you see the world
differently, which is always the goal of art isn’t it? so when i came
across this boat (in Glendale!!!) i purposely looked for the pattern of
the scene and not the deep space or dimensionality of it.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Glendale Tonality

you know what i said last week about designing your color schemes? about being intentful and having an idea behind it? well, i was in such a hurry to capture the tonality of this scene (the way the bushes visually grouped, observed by squinting) that i quickly blocked in my flat colors without getting a good design to them. this really came back to bite me in the rear because those first colors and tones set up the rest of the image, you can’t really re jigger them, you can’t really bring design to where is none. so, while this has a nice tonality about it those first large color notes should have been better designed out….

Monday, April 15, 2013

santa monica sunset

Monday, April 08, 2013

Pasadena Alley

i included a close up too so you can see how abstract these are. pushed a bit of vignetting at the end for more of a “movie frame” look. all the “textures” are hand done, abstract and no photos. just a bunch of colored squares :)

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Simple Composition

Friday, July 27, 2012

I
was so utterly impressed recently with the Edgar Payne show that I had
to try a painting on a more grand scale. It's interesting looking at his
work with mature eyes. I can remember when I first saw his work and
like most newer painters, you think it's about the thick brush work.
It's so not. Every mark in his best paintings is a design element. The
strokes tell us something about the form. The shapes are carefully
designed to be interesting versions of reality. The patterns are
thoughtful designed and executed to be brilliant passages of calligraphy
that would stand on there own if you were to peel them off the canvas.
the subtle color modulation reveals a plane change. His design is
deceptive because it comes off as simplistic in that it seems like
anyone can make a thick brush stroke BUT that stroke carries with it the
weight of strong design, solid drawing, clear separation of light and
dark, modulated color and the complete understanding of the 3
dimensional space he's indicating on a flat surface!! It was
fascinating to have my memory of what I used to see in his work and
compare it to what I AM able to see now. They're are very few living
painters of the landscape who have such control over drawing, design,
composition and careful value and color control today. Lack of drawing
today I think is robbing us of the understanding of form and
composition. Drawing isn't a trick of the wrist, it's a method of
understanding form and design.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Memorial Day, Dukemajian Park

I
was trying to explain to someone recently why simplified graphic
iconography is SO important to good design and this is a good example.
The scene in front of me was literally this (A) But a better design is this (B)
And you can't see that unless you boil it down to the essential parts.
All the "details" get in the way and must be striped off to refine the
design cause without design we're just human xerox machines. Copying
what's in front of us with no thought. Even Ansel Adams knew that you
MAKE a photograph not TAKE a photograph.

Friday, June 08, 2012

TRON:UPRISING

Tron Uprising aired last night and i'm glad to be able to share some of the designs i did for the show. i can only share what's been shown so far but what a bold look Alberto and Charlie are pushing! more to come!

Friday, March 02, 2012

la Crescenta

this is one i did over the holidays last year. wasn't sure about it at the time but thought it was looking good enough to post ;)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

California Coast

finally! a new one. put my 3 day weekend to use. the challenge on this one was taking something that could have been very flat and horizontal and really exaggerating the z depth. lots of calligraphy was used to show volume and contour.

Friday, January 06, 2012

Graphic Glendale

the latest in the series. still working on doing more with less. meaning, what are the absolute essentials of the scene and still have it represent what's there in front of me. trying to spend more time understanding what's going on and less wrist movement. art is always a translation of reality, always

Friday, December 30, 2011

El Matador

it seemed fitting to end the year with this location. i usually took my class here for the last day when i was teaching at Art Center. simplified shapes but realistic tonality seems to be what i'm trying lately. looking forward to where these take me in the coming year!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Griffith Observatory

this weeks Graphic LA entry. these are getting more abstract in that while the shapes are based on reality, i'm pushing them farther than what's in front of me. the color as well. this approach, i have to say , is a lot of FUN!!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Valley View

or near that street anyway. every single shape is altered, pushed and skewed in this one even though it looks somewhat real. had an interesting talk with Robert Valley which lead to this. although my stuff isn't nearly as pushed as his. i really exaggerated the rhythms of the trees, bushes and lawns as well, pushing and distorting them quite a bit while keeping the values and colors on the very real side. the shapes are very simplified and designed. the atmospheric perspective is exaggerated too to enhance the depth of the street. in reality its not nearly as strong.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

FALL IN LA

granted it's not as picturesque as Vermont but LA ha it's own unique palate. concrete and orange. lately i've been thinking a lot more about designed shapes versus sight to size/visual impression. this may seem very "real" looking but i changed/altered ever shape in here. i kept the color and tonality true to nature but really pushed the shapes, even though they may have a realistic feel.

More UNCHARTED 3

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

SCI FI SNAPSHOT

i say snapshot because it's a very casual composition. almost something you'd see catching your flight to mars or saturn. invented piece inspired by recent travel. going for a retro future, with some Albert Frey influence.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

UNCHARTED 3

enough time has passed i thought i'd post a few of the concept designs i did for U3! i waited a beat because i didn't want to give anything away for the hardcore gamers who played to the end already. and thanks to the fans of the series for the awesome sales so far!!!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Graphic...Altoona?

I was in Altoona,PA for Illuxcon last week (thanks again Pat and Jeannie for putting on a great show) and I was exposed to an entirely different set of shapes and lighting conditions. I carried a small sketchbook with me and tried reducing the scenes in front of me to just black or white before working out the actual shapes. i'm still using super simple shapes (line tool, square brush, square marquee) to block out the piece. Keeping to a strong, simple, stark, graphic composition makes for a better image i'm rediscovering. Here's the latest in the series of, but no longer strictly Graphic LA.